The present invention relates to a harvesting device comprising an agricultural harvesting machine and a hauling vehicle, and to a method for regulating the ground speed for a harvesting device.
Agricultural harvesting machines that pick up and process crop, such as forage harvesters or combine harvesters, typically comprise a swivellable device for transferring the crop to a hauling vehicle, which can be a tractor-drawn trailer or a truck, for example. Depending on the type of harvesting machine, the transfer can take place continuously or discontinuously, wherein, in most cases the crop is transferred during the travel of the harvesting machine in order to make optimal use of time. The crop that is transferred by the swivellable transfer device lands at an impact point on the hauling vehicle. A swivelling of the transfer device in order to transfer the crop can be determined manually by an operator of the harvesting machine or automatically by a controller. The transfer device can be swivelled such that the position of the impact point is varied in order to utilize possibly all of the available hauling volume of the hauling vehicle. In order to minimize the loss of crop that occurs during the transfer, and to efficiently utilize the loading volume of the hauling vehicle, it is necessary for the operator of the harvesting machine to concentrate on the control of the transfer device during the transfer while also continuing to drive through the stand of crop to be harvested, whereby his workload is further increased.
Document EP 2 020 174 A1 makes known a device for transferring the crop from an agricultural harvesting machine to a hauling vehicle that is intended to relieve the operator by automatically controlling the transfer device. The agricultural machine in this case comprises a discharge spout for conveying the picked-up and processed crop, for the directional control of which an electro-optical device is provided. Such known arrangement is intended not only to relieve the operator but also to enable the hauling vehicle to be filled efficiently. However, the device still must be monitored by the operator, since problems can arise during the automatic swivelling of the transfer device, for example, due to collisions of the transfer device with the hauling vehicle. In addition, the transfer device may swivel out of the operator's direct field of vision, which would make it even more difficult to monitor the transfer process and may require that the operator take action.
Document EP 2 100 495 A1 makes known a further agricultural harvesting machine for picking up and processing crop, which comprises a transfer device able to swivel about a horizontal and a vertical axis for transferring crop to a hauling vehicle. The transfer device of the harvesting machine, when in the harvesting mode, is swivelled manually and/or automatically counter to the direction of travel of the harvesting machine, depending on various operating criteria of the harvesting machine. The operating criteria can be, for example, the ground speed for harvesting, the crop throughput rate and/or the steering angle of the harvesting machine. Such arrangement presumably makes it possible to transfer crop without loss during travel in the headland or while crossing gaps in the crop stand. But the automatically swivellable transfer device also requires that the operator pay very close attention so that he/she can take action in time if a problem should occur or if the transfer device should swivel out of the operator's direct field of vision.